The 6th Sage
by blackhack725
Summary: The story behind Naruto's rise to Hokage.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Introduction

Chapter One: Introduction

Tired and bored out of his mind, the Hokage silently sat in his office, happily observing his newly rebuilt village through one of the many rectangular openings. While in deep meditation and observation, the Hokage is interrupted by the brash entrance of his genin trainee, Konohamaru.

"NARUTO!!"

"Damit Konohamaru, I told you not to barge in here like that!" said Naruto angrily.

"Yes Naruto-sensei", he replied complacently. "I was just anxious to show you my new and improved jutsu…"

"Alright then…, let's see it." Naruto leaned back in his chair and pressed his fingers together, "Begin!"

Konohamaru jumped back into his stance, "OK! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu… Henge!" With a puff of smoke, the room filled with a mist and steam. "Ooohhh… Naruto-kun, what do you think of my sexy jutsu?"

"Not enough bouncy, bouncy! It still needs some umphf. You will never properly seduce anyone with that half-ass jutsu." Konohamaru poofs back to normal and stands disappointedly sad with his chin on his chest, staring at the wooden floor below him. Naruto sighs and turns in his chair to stare out at the village again. "Sorry, I've gotta lot on my mind and the attack… Your jutsu is fine. You've improved greatly. How is your rasengan training, still on stage one dummy?

"Yeah, but, but I'll keep training and get it someday. Believe it!"

"Hm hm", Naruto chuckled. He got out of his chair and walked slowly towards Konohamaru. "Jiraiya gave me this advice, when I was training under him", he said. Naruto grabbed Konohamaru's right hand and drew a black swirling dot with a concealed brush. "This dot will help your eyes focus on one point. Use that focus point to channel your chakra."

"Thank you, Naruto-sensai… I'm gonna try it out right now. Tomorrow I'll definitely be on stage two."

Naruto placed his hand on Konohamaru's head and said, "We'll just have to see now won't we. Go, I'll be right behind you."

Konohamaru ran out of the room, leaving the door open behind him. Naruto walked over to the door, closed it and walked over to the rectangular opening behind his desk. Naruto much resembled the fourth. A spitting image of Yondaime he was told. He even wore a Naruto spin off of Yondaime's coat. Naruto's coat was white with orange flames on the bottom edges and a big Konoha leaf symbol on the back. He wore it proudly as the Sixth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village. Staring at his village, Naruto slips out of his coat, letting it drop to the floor revealing his black and orange outfit. As the coat drops, he disappears through the opening, bouncing from building to building towards the third training ground.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Briefing

Chapter 2: The Briefing

Naruto's newly attained position as Hokage was well earned in blood and sweat. The village was attacked a couple days before by rogue shinobazu of the Mirror clan. Naruto, a jounin at the time, was put out on the frontline with other ninja of his generation, to defend against the attack. The group had assailed many small villages before moving up to ninja villages like the Hidden Sand and Star villages to name the most recent. Having been called to the Fifth's office, Naruto head to the red building with the symbol of fire on it. Violently opening the door he exclaims, "Uzumaki Naruto here!"

"Your late!!"" everyone eyed Naruto shamefully.

"I thought I was the one that's always late…" Kakashi said as he scratched his head.

"Sorry, I was having some ramen… **OK! LET'S GO!"**

Sakura punched Naruto in the head and says, "We haven't been filled in on the mission yet, moron…"

Dazed and lightheaded, Naruto says, "I forgot about that…" Getting up he mutters a few words to himself, "Sakura's such a bitch… always hittin' me…"

Looking back in shame of his still immature teammates, Kakashi sighs, "Alright… what's the mission? Let's get this done so I can finish Makeout Heaven…" With this, Tsunade began to explain the situation and mission to the ninja present. "Your mission is to guard the Hidden Leaf Village of Konoha against an oncoming attack by rounin ninja of the Mirror clan. Their use of an unusual jutsu which gives them the ability to copy and use the jutsus of their past opponents makes them highly dangerous, making this mission a SS-class assignment. It is believed that they possess many copied elemental jutsu and unique jutsu of their own. Due to past confrontations in some nearby ninja villages, it is believed that they can utilize the kekkei genkai of both the Kazekage and that of the Hidden Star village. Approach them with extreme caution." Tsunade leaned forward in her chair, gently placing her arms on her desk, crossing her fingers in front of her face. "Be selective with your usage of techniques… They can copy anything…, she spoke these words with the soft, concerned voice of an experienced mother. She began again loudly, "Position yourselves on the outskirts and patrol the forests. Konoha lies in your laps, protect it! Dismissed!" The ninjas, one by one, exited the room. Tsunade got out of her chair and leaned on her desk, "Kakashi!"

"Huh?"

"Try not to use the sharingan…"

Kakashi, slowly continuing out says, "I know."

The ninjas quickly split up into their respective teams of three. Team Kakashi darts towards the northeastern border of the village, stopping on a branch. Kakashi whips out a kunai and shoves it partially into the thick of the tree, "Split up, set up traps, and report here. If you see the enemy, don't engage them; send up a warning signal."

"Hai!"

The three separated and got down to business. If the enemy defeated the Kazekage, Gaara, then this wasn't going to be an easy fight.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: An Amazing Enemy

Chapter 3: An Amazing Enemy!

Kneeling down, bent over with a kunai between his teeth, Naruto finishes tying the string on his trap. "Last trap…"Naruto grabs his kunai and cuts the excess. As he cuts the last string, he hears a rustling in the bush to his far right. He jumps back, kicks upward off a tree behind him, somersaulting through the air and landing in a nearby bush. One kunai lay embedded in the tree. "Shadow cloning kunai… these guys are good…" As he searches for the enemy's hiding spot, he wraps a kunai with an exploding tag and sends out two shadow clones. Then he sneaks over to another bush. One of the Narutos throws up the kunai, _**"Katsu!"**_ The kunai explodes high above the trees with a red cloud of smoke. Almost immediately, other explosions of the same kind take place all around Konoha's borders. "So everyone else has met up with the enemy huh. I guess from now on… It's one on one!" From a bush in Naruto's upper left field of vision shone a faint metallic glint. "There!" One Naruto grabs the other, "Henge!" The Naruto changes into a giant, three foot wide shuriken. It jets towards the glint. With a jump and a yell the clone slices through the bush, revealing a dangling kunai attached to an exploding tag. "Shit…" _**Bang! **_From the smoke emerges a brown caped figure. Hovering through the air, its face was hidden behind a circular reflective plate embedded within the depths of its hood. Floating towards the ground, the ninja rapidly forms some seals, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Rotating 360 degrees, the mirror nin sears the surrounding trees and vegetation to a black ash. Standing in one place with its legs spread apart, it frantically looks for Naruto in the black rubble.

"Rasengan!" Dropping out of the sky, Naruto lands a vicious direct hit on the reflective face plate of the mirror ninja, shattering it and driving the ninja's head to the ash covered ground. Getting up from his knees, Naruto stares down at the face of his opponent now covered with shards of metal from the plate. "What an awkward face these guys have … Are they even human?" He studies the body of the ninja for a few seconds, looking it up and down to get some clue to its identity, until… click, click, !BOOM! Jumping back, Naruto narrowly escapes the blast. "Too close…" Naruto turns around and heads towards the closest warning blast he could remember. Thinking to himself as he jumps from tree to tree, he says, "What are they hiding…" Naruto steadily speeds onwards in hopes of finding a comrade. Meanwhile, Kakashi battles his enemy…


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Copy Technique

Chapter 4: The Copy Technique!

Having already sent up his warning kunai, Kakashi prepares for battle with the enemy. The two opponents stand motionless, staring at the other with the utmost seriousness. Kakashi unsheathes a kunai from the packet on his right thigh and spreads his legs, firmly grasping the kunai out in front of his face. The opposing mirror ninja uncrosses his arms and holds them out in front of his body, fingers out, palms down. "haaa…." With low, deep exhale, the mirror nin summons up a cloud of sand which slowly circled around it at the feet. Kakashi throws his kunai and rapidly shadow clones it. Focused on the kunai's the mirror shinobazu easily blocks the duplicated kunais with the sand, unaware of the Kakashi's impending assault, "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!" Levitating streams of water in the shape of dragons rise from the ground and drench the mirror ninja turning the once light and lively sand into a dense and heavy ring of mud. The knocked down mirror ninja holds up one of its arms and tries to command the sand. It lifts slightly but then breaks apart and falls to the ground.

"Not so easy with soaked sand now is it?" Kakashi chuckled at his temporary victory.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu! The mirror nin leaps up and blows an enormous fireball downward at the mud ring. It gently floats down into the now dry circle of sand. An awkward, somewhat mechanical male voice is heard lightly laughing behind the reflective face plate. "ha, ha, ha…" The voice resembles that of the hidden mist ninja who speak through a type of portable breathing mechanism. Holding out his hands once again, the mirror ninja breaths life back into the dead sand which again, begins to swirl at his feet. "Hatake Kakashi… Konoha's copy ninja… I will have your sharingan!" The ninja cocks back his hands and thrusts his palms forward sending a wave of sand needles towards Kakashi. Kakashi unsheathes another kunai and blocks most of the needles while a few pierce his jounin jacket. Kakashi, breathing heavily, lifts his head after blocking the sand, "Is that it?"

"Sabaku!" The surrounding sand particles in the air close in on Kakashi sticking to him like white on rice. It piles on layer by layer, particle by particle until what was Kakashi is now just a six foot mound of hardened sand. The mirror nin lets down his arms in a tired slump and staggers to the mound. Placing his hand on the sand to support himself he says, "Is this Konoha's White Fang? I will have what I want…" The ninja pushes his hand into the sand in search of his prize.

"Naibu Haretsu no Jutsu!" The mound of sand explodes sending the shinobazu flying backwards onto the dirt. Out of the dust and sand debris bursts Kakashi, through the air with his clothes torn and battered. Landing a few feet away from the dust cloud, Kakashi exclaims, "Just a small miscalculation… but enough play." He lifts up his left hand to his forehead protector. Lifting the cloth, he reveals his fully developed, third level sharingan. Seeing this, the mirror nin leaps up to his feet with his legs spread wide open, "Kekkei Genkai: Kagami Genkou!" The ninja's reflective face plate swirls from a reflective gray to a shiny, jet black hue. The object seems to entrance the mind and draw in the focus of the eyes along with everything around it. From its dun depths slowly open two silver eyes which quickly turn into sharingans. "What will you do know, Hatake?" With his left hand still on his protector, Kakashi closes his eyes and with the greatest ease reopens them. "Mangekyou Sharingan: Tsukuyomi…" Time stops as the ninja looks around at the sepia sky and red moon. Looking around in a precautious and dilatory manner he thinks to himself, "Where'd he go… where am I? The ninja looks up at the sky once again but in astonishment and fear. "You are in my world, my mind…," Kakashi's voice is heard from all directions simultaneously. The black ground beneath the ninja unexpectedly cracks open. The mirror ninja jumps up in an attempt at escaping the fall but is held down by an increased gravitational field coming out of the trench. The ninja claws at the edge of the cliff but continues to get sucked in by some gravitational vacuum at the bottom of the gorge. "Amaretsu" Finally losing his grip, he plummets through the earthwork as a column of black hell fire races towards him from the posterior. The ninja keeps falling until he comes within sight of the bottom, "AHhhh!!" The ninja releases a deafening scream as his body smacks violently against the black dirt, being sandwiched between the fire and the bottom of the entrenchment. In the real world, the mirror ninja falls backwards to the floor in a mouth foaming mental breakdown turned seizure. Kakashi's sharingan disappears as his shoulders slump forward bringing his body with them. He lands against the dirt ground kicking up a cloud of dust and sand.


	5. Chapter 5

"Clip, Clip…" Leaves and greenery rushed by as Naruto bounced from branch to branch

**Chapter 5: The Captain**

"Clip, Clip…" Leaves and greenery rushed by as Naruto bounced from branch to branch. "I hope I'm right about this flare," he thought to himself. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto caught the flash of a shadow arc between trees. He looked over in mid jump to investigate the shadow. "Crack!" His head smacks against a thick branch and he tumbles head over hells towards the ground. "Waa…!" With a loud thump, he slams into the dirt kicking up a cloud of light brown dust. As the dust settled, Naruto lay with his cheek against the ground and his soles to the sky. His limbs twitched in agony, "Ugh…," he groaned. A small click of dust flashed into Naruto's face as a pair of black shinobi sandals landed next to him. "Clumsy as ever Naruto…," the man pushed Naruto's legs to the ground with a gentle touch at the ankle. Naruto slowly recovered to his feet and dusted himself off.

"So they sent you too… Sasuke." Naruto lifted his head and grinned.

"Even the Anbu have to get involved in this one."

They looked each other up and down before leaping up into the trees.

A few moments went by in silence as they sped through the forest till Naruto glanced over at Sasuke. "Do you know what this is?" he says.

"Far as I know it's just a band of copy cat rogues."

"Same thing they told me…"

They continue forward at a steady pace. After a few long leaps, they come within distant view of a yellow grass clearing. In seconds, they spot three persons, two familiar and one unknown. "Yo!" Naruto yells. Sasuke and Naruto rush over to a kneeling Sakura and unconscious Kakashi laying on his back. "Let me concentrate Naruto." Sakura was bent over hovering above Kakashi with her hands above his abdomen. A green aura engulfed her hands as she treated Hatake in silence. "He's just exhausted, but he did manage to break a few lower ribs." Naruto and Sasuke stood at Kakshi's feet. Sasuke raised his left arm and snapped his fingers. In seconds, two Anbu ninja dash next to him kneeling humbly. "Take Kakashi to the hospital when Sakura's done."

"Yes sir..." One of the Anbu steps forward and kneels next to Sakura and Hatake. Sasuke walks around Kakashi's feet and looks back at the second Anbu. He points at the body of the Mirror ninja with his thumb, "Take that… to Intel." The Anbu quickly rises to his feet but is halted by a firm grip on his shoulder. The nin looks up over at a serious faced Naruto. "There might be a bomb."

"Hai…," the ninja whispered. As Naruto let go, the Anbu ninja creeped over towards the immobile body of the mirror nin. His arms floated horizontally as they were extended outward. He stopped for a brief second with every pair of steps. He inched towards the unconscious foe step, by step, by step. As he nerved closer and closer, he heard a small set of sounds. "Tick, tick… tick… tick, tick." The sounds eminated from the body and at first the Anbu froze in his tracks. He took a step back placing his toes on the ground, but in a burst of bravery took a quick set of steps next to the body. He knelt next to the nin and followed the sound with his ear close to the body. The ticks got faster and faster yet stuttered and slowed. The Anbu grew frantic at the change in speed and followed closer in a more panicked manner. The sound was coming from underneath the dark brown robes of the mirror ninja. The Anbu slowly hovered his left hand closer to the area of the ticking. He grabbed at the shinobazu's chest and ripped a layer of the cloth away in fear, cocking backwards with his forearms to cover his face. He peeked through one eye, peering cautiously through his fingers. The timer was jammed by damp sand. He opened the remaining eye and lowered his arms in a sigh of relief. The sand seemed to have somehow gotten into the gears and blocked the timer from setting off detonation. The Anbu ninja grabbed one of the rogue's arms and threw its body over his back in a piggyback fashion. In a flutter of leaves and a flash of black, gray streaks, the Anbu ninja disappeared into the trees.

Sasuke looked away from the direction of the ninja and turned to stare at Kakashi with a sigh. "Getting careless Kakshi-sensai…" Sakura removes her hands from over Hatake's chest and places them on her thighs. "He'll be alright now. You can take um." She signaled to the remaining Anbu. In a gentle toss, the ninja slings Kakashi over his back and jets off into the woods in the same manner as the previous Anbu.

"Reunited and it feels so good!" Naruto wraps his arms around Sasuke and Sakura with a wide, stupid smile on his face. In a crash and thump, Sasuke and Sakura simultaneously punch Naruto's face to the ground. "Naruto!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Interrogation

**Chapter 6: Interrogation**

At a blazing pace, the Anbu dash through the forest spending mere milliseconds on each branch. Only gray streaks are seen as they jet through the trees. Leaves loosen from their branches as the Anbu tap upon them in their race to the village. The green leaves swing back and forth on their journey downward to the Earth below. A verdant caterpillar hung onto a leaf with legs and pincers as it floated down upon it. Wind and air rush upward as the leaf buckles under the weight of the bug. It plummets quickly as the leaf assumes a more aerodynamic stature. With amazing accuracy, speed and coordination, a sage green frog swipes the caterpillar off of the leaf while flying through midair, with a mighty launch of its sticky pink tongue. The amphibian lightly lands on a tan patch of dry dirt with a small upheaval of dust. It opened its mouth lazily and chomped upon its prize arrogantly as if to say, "Just another catch."

The two great green gates of Konoha come into view as the Anbu clear the forest. The two large red Japanese letters still marked the gates, stating proudly the name of the village, Konoha. Rather than enter noticeably through the wide open gates, the two jump onto the four story high barrier walls and hop from rooftop to rooftop in rapidly moving arcs of gray and black. The great stone carved faces of the five hokage comes into view as the Anbu leap closer and closer to the large red dome like Fire building where the Hokage resides. The stone faces in the hillside watch over Konoha with unblinking eyes and unmoving expressions of happiness. In poufs of smoke the Anbu disappear and materialize atop two of the four arched pillars jutting from the structure. They descend running down the pillar and into the building, vanishing once again.

A pair of light skinned female feet donning simple tan sandals scamper down a hallway within the Hokage's Fire building. Her slim black kimono flutters lightly as she hurries down the hallway. In a screeching, sliding halt she stops in front of a door simultaneously slamming it open. "Tsunade-sama! We've taken one!" Shizune exclaims abruptly. Her chest bounces as she tries to catch her breath. Tsunade stops writing and slowly looks up at the door. Shizune closes her eyes and straightens herself taking a deep breath along with a quick exhale from the mouth. She reopens her eyes and looks at Tsunade once again, "They're waiting for you in interrogation." Shizune's eyebrow twicths as she realizes a cup atop the table. "How could you drink sake in a time like this!?" she yells at the top of her lungs at a laughing, rosy cheeked Tsunade. "Baka! Don't worry I'm fine!" Tsunade jumps out of her chair dropping a brush down onto the desk. She circles the desk and walks steadily to the door in typical cocky fashion. She passes Shizune uttering, "Let's go."

The room was dark with only a few candles to light it. Its walls enclosed a large space of about half that of a football field, nearly fifty yards in both length and width. The ceiling was extremely high stretching a few stories up into the building. A green tinted white light added even more illumination to the room. The greenish aura extruded from markings upon the floor of the room which formed a perfectly circular network of lines and curls. Around the circle seal sat eight elite medical ninja with both hands clasped together in the tiger seal position. Their palms touched and all their fingers interlocked except for two upright index fingers. The green aura was eminating from their hands as well as from the seal and seemed to fluctuate with their concentration. One medical nin had passed out but was quickly replaced by a prepared substitute.

Round the room were members of the Anbu, Konoha councilors and elite jounin. The mirror nin sat bound with arms tied behind his back in a simple four legged wooden chair. It was at the center of the binding circle still cloaked in its brown cloak. The reflective mirror plate still hid its face yet a large crack ran across it diagonally. An Anbu ninja donning a fox animal mask (which was slide back to cover the right side of his head) and a dark red brown cloak, walked around the rouge slowly, keeping to the outside rim of the inner most circle marking. The entire center of the seal was a smaller circle which was nearly empty of other markings except for eight straight lines that conjugated under the shinobazu's chair. The near empty center was ten feet in diameter giving ample room for interrogators to stand.

The Anbu ninja circled the unconscious captive keeping a watchful eye for anything suspicious. The door to the room slammed open with a loud bang as it impacted the wall behind it. White light shone through the doorway permeating the darkness within the room. The shadowy figures of Tsunade and Shizune walked into the interrogation room through the bright light. "Let's get started!" Tsunade yelled as she entered the room. The Anbu interrogator, having frozen in his tracks with the opening of the door, crossed his arms and attentively awaited his command. The sounds of footsteps stopped as Tsunade and Shizune joined the group of councilors. "You may begin," she said. The Anbu proceeded to perform a calculated set of hand signs in rapid succession before quickly declaring, "Iwaku Sukyan no Jutsu." Everything was silent as the Anbu stood completely still staring at the opponent. Moments passed as the Anbu interrogator sifted through the mirrior nin's memories.

Through the Anbu ninja's eyes was a flurry of snapshots and clips. All were merely bits and pieces from the rouges previous encounter with Hatake Kakashi. Detailed memories portrayed the battle through a first person view from the side of the shinobazu. As the Anbu went on, he realized the relentlessness of the former Anbu, Kakashi.

"Hhuuhh! The Anbu gasped loudly and quickly into a frozen state. He turned slowly to face Tsunade and the councilors. "All I find are memories of its last battle with Kakashi. The rest is black…" The chatter of voices grew in the room as the councilors whispered to each other's ears. The noise rose and rose as they heightened their voices with emotion. "How can a person be devoid of memories?"

"Well it was a black space, so maybe blindness?"

"Maybe it isn't a human at all!"

"Puppet jutsu!?"

"This is madness!"

"Enough!" Tsunade bellowed violently at the councilors causing the room to shake and vibrate. The interrogation room resumed its previous silence and Tsunade began again in a softer tone of voice. She seemed to be directing the Anbu as she said, "Well just keep..." A set of ticks and clicks was heard and all movement in the room stopped. Not a breath was taken, as the Anbu interrogator grabbed at the mirror nin's cloak robe, ripped it from the rogues body and tossed it high into the air. "Futon: Shippuu Gokusha no jutsu! White jet streams of wind rushed to envelop the robe and encased it in an orb of white winds resembling a very large, eight foot wide, white rasengan. A muffled explosion echoed down to the councilors from within the orb as a fiery blast goes off within and black clouds of smoke swirl round inside the orb. Apparently, Tsunade's voice had vibrated the room so intensely that the last bits of sand jamming the bomb gear on the mirror rouge had been freed thus allowing the bomb to go off as intended. Luckily, a ready and informed Anbu interrogator was quick to act.

As the echoing sound of the muffled blast died down and the gale force winds of the wind prison dissipated, councilors and spectators alike looked on in shock and horror. The mirror ninja's body was completely bare of any undergarments and covered in the black ink markings of a seal! One of the councilors shimmied his way over to Tsunade and whispered into her ear, "A seal?" Another overheard the conversation between the two and joined in with, "It could possibly be the Kinjutsu: Utsuro Kawa Fujin" Tsunade and the other councilors immediately turned to look at the councilor that spoke. "A kinjutsu? It can't be that serious. They're only rogues!" said Tsunade. The councilor at the center of attention spoke, "You never know what to expect with missing nin Tsunade-sama, especially those from a village as secluded and secret as the mirror." Tsunade looked at the councilor in slight disgust since he had clearly emphasized her misjudgement, "Well what can you tell me of this seal?"

"I don't know too much, but I do know that it drives the person's mind into their subconscious leaving only a drone of a man that will follow anything and everything to the 'T'." Tsunade placed her hand on her chin in thought and looked down at the floor. She took a few moments before calling out to the Anbu interrogator. "Watch him and figure out how to remove the seal! If you even can." Tsunade slide through the crowd of councilors and spare Anbu and exited the room with Shizune in tow. "I'll be back!"

1 - Tsunade's cocky fashion of walking is quite manly. Her shoulders rise to her ears and her arms swing straight out at her side at about 20 degree angles from her torso. Her fists swing tightly clenched as she walks speedily and almost angrily.

2 - Tiger seal is one of the many hand seals performed by ninja in order to concentrate chakra and enact jutsus. The tiger seal specifically looks as follows. Both hands clasp each other and the pinky, ring and middle fingers interlock while the index fingers remain erect pointing upward. The underside of each index finger touches the other and the thumbs remain facing upward parallel to the index fingers. Refer to Tiger hand seal image here: /information/seals/

3 - Translates to past scan technique. The jutsu allows the user to sift through the target's memory.

4 - Wind release: Gale Prison, uses gale force winds to imprison a target and can crush or cut anything within with air pressure and sharp wind, thin currents

5 - Forbidden Technique: Empty Shell Seal, to be explained


End file.
